Getting Rid of WD40? (Non Car Related)

[Negative Creep]

Long story short, but I made a bit of a balls up. Bought a refurb ipod on ebay which I found only works on one speaker. Slowly pull the jack out and the other side crackles into life, so clearly a connection problem. No worries, just send it back for a refund. Except I stupidly thought they might just be dirty, so put a quick drop of WD40 in there, which proceeded to seep in front of the screen.

 

 

Although it makes no difference to the unit, if I try and return it they'll claim it's liquid damaged. So to stop me having wasted £100, and baring in mind they are extremly difficult to get apart, does anyone have any ideas how I can remove or evaporate the liquid without damging the unit?

[seacow]

I would suggest leaving it on a radiator to dry out but as its WD40 it may well be greasy and not work that well - getting in is difficult without the right tools

[DSdriver]

Electical switch cleaner?*

 

*I accept no responsibility for the damage that this may or may not cause. Theoretically on its own it will do no harm whatsoever but I have no idea how the screens are attached so if it dissolves the adhesive you could be in worse poo.

[cobblers]

Sorry to add to the bad news but if it's a somewhat recent ipod it'll have a moisture detection "dot" down the earphone hole that goes red to indicate moisture (Or WD40) and most halfway switched on sellers of them know to check this on any returns.

[Bobthebeard]

Long story short, but I made a bit of a balls up. Bought a refurb ipod on ebay which I found only works on one speaker. Slowly pull the jack out and the other side crackles into life, so clearly a connection problem. No worries, just send it back for a refund. Except I stupidly thought they might just be dirty, so put a quick drop of WD40 in there, which proceeded to seep in front of the screen.

 

 

Although it makes no difference to the unit, if I try and return it they'll claim it's liquid damaged. So to stop me having wasted £100, and baring in mind they are extremly difficult to get apart, does anyone have any ideas how I can remove or evaporate the liquid without damging the unit?

 

In my experience of trying these ' good idea at the time' repairs I suspect that you are destined to forever own an oily iPod that only works on one speaker...

[Des]

Brake cleaner shouldn't harm plastics, maybe with an aerosol air duster can to blast it clear.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Brake cleaner shouldn't harm plastics, maybe with an aerosol air duster can to blast it clear.

 

This is going to turn into the automotive fluids version of the old woman who swallowed a fly.

[Bobthebeard]

Brake cleaner shouldn't harm plastics, maybe with an aerosol air duster can to blast it clear.

 

This is going to turn into the automotive fluids version of the old woman who swallowed a fly.

 

 

This reminds me just why I love this forum so much....

Qwality!

[cobblers]

hahah

 

"right, I got the WD40 out but now it's covered in brake cleaner"

"Light the brake cleaner, it'll burn off harmlessly"

"OK I did that, the brake cleaner is gone but now it's got a few scorch marks"

"Ah, use some fine wet and dry sandpaper to sand them off"

"OK, I did that and it got rid of the scorch marks, but now there's some fine scratches left on the casing"

"Ah, well use a polishing mop and some compound to buff them out carefully"

"OK, I did that and the iPod caught in the polishing mop and got slung at the wall, now it's broken in loads of pieces"

"Ah, well carefully stick it back together with some glue"

"OK, I did that but I got the click wheel stuck to my thumb"

"Ah, well, use some WD40 to soften the glue"

[Bobthebeard]

hahah

 

"right, I got the WD40 out but now it's covered in brake cleaner"

"Light the brake cleaner, it'll burn off harmlessly"

"OK I did that, the brake cleaner is gone but now it's got a few scorch marks"

"Ah, use some fine wet and dry sandpaper to sand them off"

"OK, I did that and it got rid of the scorch marks, but now there's some fine scratches left on the casing"

"Ah, well use a polishing mop and some compound to buff them out carefully"

"OK, I did that and the iPod caught in the polishing mop and got slung at the wall, now it's broken in loads of pieces"

"Ah, well carefully stick it back together with some glue"

"OK, I did that but I got the click wheel stuck to my thumb"

"Ah, well, use some WD40 to soften the glue"

 

Try squirting some WD40 down the earphone socket....

Then lose your temper and throw it into a hedge.

[Skizzer]

ALL MODERN PERSONAL MUSIC PLAYERS ARE SHIT

 

Nothing beats a Sony Walkman that's got with orange sponge headphones with a loose connection playing ferric home-made mix tapes recorded off medium wave radio

 

If you'd had a gramophone on wheels dragged around by a Jack Russell (RIP HMV) you'd never have had this problem

 

etc

etc

 

[Albert Ross]

Could you not hammer an older iPod over the top of it?

[Cheggers]

If it's an old or rare one, send it 'round the oval

[Pillock]

Just to echo - it's screwed. In the nicest way, chalk it up to experience.

You could take it apart (difficulty depends on which generation it is but is anywhere from "meh" to "FFS you piece of crap") and clean it properly, but you'll never do that AND convince them it's never been open - too many telltale signs, nothing really ever sits right even with practise. So you could only do that if you've resigned yourself to keeping it, potentially even more broken than it is. Sometimes the touchscreen is bonded to the LCD which means you can't even clean it properly, you need a whole new assembly.

[Bobthebeard]

Thankfully I don't need a personal music system. The next door neighbours provides music for the entire street!

Plus they have four yappy dogs and noisy kids.

Sigh....

The plus points are that he is into chod and has three Metros in his garden and a decomposing boat. Plus he drives a Subaru. Loudly. At night.

[Negative Creep]

Just to update, I seem to have found a solution to the speaker problem - jam some tin foil in the headphone jack to make a better connection. It's working thus far, so must be worth some shite bodge points?

[Andrew353w]

ALL MODERN PERSONAL MUSIC PLAYERS ARE SHIT

 

Nothing beats a Sony Walkman that's got with orange sponge headphones with a loose connection playing ferric home-made mix tapes recorded off medium wave radio

 

If you'd had a gramophone on wheels dragged around by a Jack Russell (RIP HMV) you'd never have had this problem

 

etc

etc

 

 

AND THE DOG'S NAME WAS..... "NIPPER"!!!

[face]

Just to update, I seem to have found a solution to the speaker problem - jam some tin foil in the headphone jack to make a better connection. It's working thus far, so must be worth some shite bodge points?

 

That sounds perfect - plus your modern music device also smells like a moped.

[barefoot]

Can I suggest ifixit.com

I've just followed the instructions there to replace the battery in my iPod.

I am utterly incompetent, nearly blind and with pudgy fingers

But it works again!

[retrogeezer]

Have you tried different headphones as it 'sounds' like the headphone jack might be the issue, not the ipod.

 

And next time, just put a little bit of wd on a cotton bud to poke in there!

[shedvan]

Have you thought maybe about taking this on by the horns and maybe doing the fix yourself? I would definitely recommend this before giving it up as a lost cause, ipod screens and headphone jacks can be replaced, the replacement parts are actually startlingly affordable, ie less that £10 if you shop around online and youtube is a good place to find video guides on how to do this, as well as ifixit which is a brilliant site for set by set guides on how to do this.

 

I had an iriver which curled its toes up a year or two back and found out about how easy these things are to fix and since then I have fixed several different ipods of ailments various (they look harder to work with than they are) and there is nothing as satisfying as fixing something you may have written off - especially if you may have had a heavy hand in it's demise!

[Junkman]

Thankfully I don't need a personal music system. The next door neighbours provides music for the entire street!

Plus they have four yappy dogs and noisy kids.

Sigh....

The plus points are that he is into chod and has three Metros in his garden and a decomposing boat. Plus he drives a Subaru. Loudly. At night.

 

No fuggin shiny shit from China will ever beat live entertainment.